The Road
by elfofthedarkside
Summary: Tony Stark and his new assistant, Jackie, are trying their best to help her Bucky back on track. Will include some Stony, OC/Bucky, demi- characters, and loads of Avengers. Shares universe with my other story "Avengers Truth or Dare". Please review!


**So... here's the story linked to that T or D story I did a while ago. This AU took a while, but I'm planning to eventually flesh out this story into a long one... maybe even with a link to Daredevil?**

 **Anyways, please enjoy and review!**

* * *

"Steve!"

Oxygen flooded Bucky's lungs as he slowly came back into consciousness. The first thing he noticed was the amount of white in the room. The next was the woman standing over him.

With a needle.

Bucky's eyes widened. He grunted, trying to summon the strength to throw his body away from the seeming attacker.

"Whoa!" The woman grabbed his weak body with one hand, holding him on his back. "Shh. Calm down. I'm not going to- oh." She glanced at the syringe in her hand. "I guess not a fan of needles?"

Bucky's breath was ragged. His heart pounded as he managed to keep eye contact with her. "Wh- who…?" He whispered, with vocal chords that felt like they hadn't been used in a while. "Where…?"

"Shh," She repeated. "My name is Jackie. You're in a secret facility owned by Tony Stark-"

At the name, something surged within Bucky once more. Danger. He reached back to swing at her, but…

"What-?"

She glanced down at the place where his arm should have been. "Oh, yeah. Tony is meaning to fix that. He wanted to wait until you were awake, though. Sorry, I guess you wouldn't be on good terms with him?" She reached down, needle coming closer to his good arm.

"No-"

"Hey, hey!" She put her empty hand on his forehead. "It's okay. It's just for pain. I'm running a couple tests on your brain waves, and I don't want to hurt you."

Bucky forced himself to be still. His breath was still uneven.

"Jackie…?" He managed.

"Yep," She smiled down at him, then suddenly pinched him.

"Ow!"

"Sorry. It's to distract from the needle." Her green eyes shimmered with mirth. "So… James Barnes. You've been in cryo for about three months. You were moved here by your friend Steve so we-me and Tony-could try to reverse some of the brainwashing you've got going on…" She tapped his forehead. "We took you out last night, and it took about 12 hours for you to wake up. So far, nothing has happened. As soon as you're ready, I'd like to bring Tony in here to watch me set up these nodes. Steve should be here, too. You'd like to see him, wouldn't'cha?"

Bucky blinked. "Um… I guess… yes, I would… Who are you?"

She grinned. "Sorry. Getting ahead of myself. I'm Jackie Bateman. Tony needed an assistant, and I had the skills. So I work with him. Which means I get to help you. Yay."

* * *

Bucky looked awful.

It wasn't just the fact that his hair looked much too long and unkempt for the man he once knew, Steve observed. His eyes. They were empty. And full of fear.

Steve knew getting choked up wouldn't be helpful in the slightest. So, he squared his shoulders, took a deep breath, and held out his hand. "I'm Steve Rogers."

"I… I know." Bucky stuttered. Steve breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad."

Without warning, he leaned down and gave his best friend a hug. Bucky tensed up, but slowly returned with his one good arm.

"I missed you," Steve whispered.

"I would like to say the same," Bucky replied, "but time doesn't work like that in cryo."

Steve grinned, hiding his watering eyes. "There's my Buck."

Tony stepped forward. "Hi. I, um… I'm sorry about your arm. I'll build a better one."

Bucky was instantly wary. "Tony."

"I…" Tony stared at the ground. "Look, I'm still pissed about my parents. Who wouldn't be? But you weren't… you… when you did that. So…" He held out his hand, still looking away. "Truce?"

Bucky hesitated only for a second. "I'd like that." He grasped Tony's hand.

Jackie cleared her throat. "So… care to give me a hand?"

Tony managed a smile. "Yeah. Let's figure out what's going on in there."

Steve took a step back, letting the two science geeks do their thing. It was interesting to watch Jackie. She was so much like Tony. Scarily, sometimes. She had an old, battered letterman jacket tied around her waist, different knick-knacks hanging out of the pockets; short purple hair falling slightly into her eyes.

He shook his head. It wasn't that he was attracted to her. It was that she wasn't attracted to anyone. It was fascinating. He'd never met someone like that. And she was so kind to Bucky…

She'd definitely help him get better.


End file.
